Lawyers plan suit against Lufthansa over Jewish passengers
May 13, 2022, 2:31 PM | Updated: 3:14 pm
Lawyers for 26 passengers said Friday they told Lufthansa that they will sue the German airline for refusing to let members of a large group of Orthodox Jewish passengers board a plane after some had refused to wear masks on an earlier flight.
The lawyers from the American Center for Law & Justice, a conservative advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., said in a letter dated Thursday to Lufthansa’s CEO that the passengers were victims of an “unconscionable antisemitic incident” on May 4 in Frankfurt.
The lawyers said they will detail the passengers’ “legal claims and demands” against Lufthansa next week. The letter was signed by five officials of the legal center, including its chief counsel, Jay Sekulow, a member of former President Donald Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial.
Lufthansa apologized for the incident on Tuesday, saying it has “zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism and discrimination of any type.” The airline said it was reviewing the incident.
A group of passengers flew from New York to Frankfurt, where they planned to connect to a flight to Budapest. Some had allegedly refused to comply with rules requiring face masks, and Lufthansa staffers blocked passengers who appeared to be Jewish because they were wearing skull caps or had sidelocks, according to German media accounts.
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